How can we make it crystal clear that we don't want more copyright restrictions and that we want our fair use rights encoded in law and guaranteed to us?
Security is going to go straight over the head of someone who doesn't know the basics of the basics. You can't run before you can walk and you certainly can't learn "gun safety" if you don't know what a "gun" is.
All the more reason to cover it. The purpose of the book is to teach what you need to know for networking.
Security is definitely among the "needs" for any kind of networking in today's environment!
Not quite what you are asking for, but have you seen the
Canopus ADVC-100? This handy device will convert (DVD-quality) video (not RF) to/from DV-encoded firewire.
I'm not a pessimist about technology, but I'm disappointed in what has passed for technology since, say the 1960s.
...
Technology outside of IT moves unbelievably slowly.
I would say that you are myopic, or perhaps just impatient.
In the 60's, computers were 1000 times larger, 1000 times more expensive, and 10000 times slower. In a series of small (yes, evolutionary) steps, they have made big advances. Is this enough to be revolutionary? Hmmm...
Yes, computers are still organized around old von Neumann architectures, and still use printers and disks. User interfaces have had a revolution since the 1960s (courtesy of Xerox).
But, I think people in business (accounting as a stellar example), publishing, and multimedia have been profoundly affected (in revolutionary ways?) by computers.
I have left out the best example, delaying it until the last. The Bio sciences have extended genetics in incredible strides (yes, made possible by computers and other inventions). Think of the research possibilities opened up by genome mapping, for instance.
If that is not revolutionary, then perhaps I am guilty of misunderstanding the proper term to label something that has dominated such an important field in so short of a time.
Perhaps I am biased, because such advances in biotech have saved my life (I am a cancer survivor, cured by advanced drugs developed by biotech firms - with the help of computers). Had I been ill twenty years earlier, I probably would not have survived. You may disagree, but being alive is revolutionary progress to me!
A better way would be to get the idea published in a trade journal (an ACM or IEEE journal sounds pretty good). In addition to firmly establishing it as prior art, it will also make the idea available to others.
If the idea is really significant, then these journals "should" be willing to work with you to get it published. That's what they're there for, after all.
It was stated in the article that between 1958 and 1984 AT&T had to license all its non-telephonic stuff to whoever asked at fairly reasonable conditions.
While educational institutions received reasonable license terms, the same did not hold for commercial entities. They paid through the nose for a source license - and there was a time when that was all you could get.
The fact that UNIX still flourished, despite the high price and poor support (it was a research product, after all) is a tribute to its intrinsic value.
Sun's situation with Java is really reminiscent of AT&T's situation with Unix and C.
One could make a good argument that the excellent portability of C is because of AT&T retaining tight control of it for so many years. Many people learned the language and there were many applications written for it, so by the time more compilers were written for it, and later, when it was standardized, no one wanted to break anything.
In other words, the existing mass of programs keeps C stable and reasonable. If language changes different enough (or innovative enough) come along, they are put into a new language derived from C, and given a new name (like "C++" or "Java").
Is Java at that point now? Is there a big enough mass of Java code out there to keep the language stable without Sun's help?
according to their specs sheet (PDF warning), this stuff has a boiling point of 49.2C (120.6F). Processors burn hotter than that, how useful would it still be for cooling purposes if it were a gas?
Phase-change cooling comes to mind. Does anyone know if it would be better/cheaper/safer than freon?
It's not properly weighted on the other side so he has to push down with one hand, up with the other and maintain a horizontal position throughout the shot. And he can't do it so the image is tilted most of the time. He'd have a chance of keeping the horizontal straight if he made a "T" instead of an "L"
Although the "T" idea sounds OK, it might get awkward. Why not just make the handle shorter? Do you really need a one foot handle? A shorter handle would affect the balance a lot less.
Also, I was thinking that the camera mounting is very clumsy (but, of course, it is very inexpensive). There might be a way of dismantling an old (or cheap second-hand) tripod, and using it's base. You would get tilting as a bonus!
While I agree with most of this posting, I would go further.
Software production, in my experience, is NOT a freely-interchangable commodity., because programmers are not of equal ability.
In other words, software quality is not so much a function of the process used to produce it, as it is a function of the insight of who produced it. I see "software engineering" (and approach it) more as art than as a production problem. For example, while some art is displayed in museums, to be viewed over and over again by all, other art is bought by private parties, and never seen again..
I believe we should study the economics of art to understand how software fits into the marketplace.
The fact is that many would like software to be a commodity. But when you treat programmers as plowhorses, you end up with lousy art. Just like the parent posting suggests, those companies that see the difference will produce gems that will outshine the rest.
Consider this: in the very odd chance SCO wins lawsuits and Linux crumbles there wouldn't be much involved to move Linux web servers over to *BSD as they're likely all running Apache/PHP/*SQL anyhow.
Yes, I know AT&T and BSDI went over that path before, and any sane entity would not stick its hand twice (err.. three times?) into a fire.... but who is calling SCO sane?
Why not buy a couple of cheap 200Gb IDE disks? Prices are drifting to close to $1/Gb. You use the CD/DVD images as backups (your data is probably pretty static, from what you say).
At work, we set up a server devoted to this. We load up ISO images, mount them with the loopback device, and export them via NFS.
Much better than changers. We used several of them before we hit upon this scheme.
The post this responds to shows in utter clarity how eaten up with socialist thought slashdot and its moderators are.
I have read a lot comparing Free Software to socialism (and even communism). In particular, how Free Software is antithetical to capitalism.
These posts overlook one major detail:
Money is not the only motivating factor.
One definition of capitalism concerns the accumulation of capital, which, in turn, has, as one definition, "an asset or advantage".
Hmmmm.... These assets do not necesssarily mean money.
In particular, a lot of free software is written and/or supported for a very powerful asset - respect of one's peers.
Yes, in some circumstances this can be converted into more conventional money. If you are lucky.
Don't overlook other forms of compensation! It is still capitalism at work!
A retired (geeky) college professor, he relied totally on my very-social mother to schedule all of his social life. When she died, he was at a loss.
Although he now has plenty of time for his online life, it is not enough. He's climbing the walls with cabin fever. We have tried to get him out to do something - volunteer tutoring at the local college, joining a local club - ANYTHING!!! But he says he's too old to change...
I believe that a lot of us will share this fate unless we realize the importance of getting out there and doing something with people. Now. Before we have to.
hungryfrog is lucky to get his wakeup call now, rather than later.
I have too many friends (mostly online, but also a few in the flesh) whose ambition is, when they retire, to just spend all day online.
If they got their wish, most of these people would eventually realize how much humans really are social animals, and would grow to crave interaction.
What makes for a real anti-competitive climate are closed file formats. Once locked in to closed file formats, you at the mercy (or lack thereof) of your supplier.
Closed source that conforms to open file format standards (it does exist) helps to preserve real choice almost as much as true Open Source.
A strategy that would eliminate the "anti-competition" argument would be to restrict governments to open file formats.
Microsoft has demonstrated time and time again that it will not play nicely with open formats, because their entire marketing strategy is to remove choice. Their actions speak louder than their words. But the way to level the playing field is to enforce compatability with standards.
In addition to needing accurate timestamps for logging, routers are very convenient NTP servers.
Rather than having your NTP packets pass through the router, have them stop AT the router, and have the router poll for accurate time. This is FAR less overhead for a large subnet (think hundreds of hosts).
Of course, the router SHOULD be responsibly configured to poll a willing timesource.
Slashdot Mirror
The classic technique is to use a special (read: expensive) lens.
How can we make it crystal clear that we don't want more copyright restrictions and that we want our fair use rights encoded in law and guaranteed to us?
Vote the bill's sponsors out of office.
Security is going to go straight over the head of someone who doesn't know the basics of the basics. You can't run before you can walk and you certainly can't learn "gun safety" if you don't know what a "gun" is.
All the more reason to cover it. The purpose of the book is to teach what you need to know for networking.
Security is definitely among the "needs" for any kind of networking in today's environment!
We need a box with firewire in, coax out
Not quite what you are asking for, but have you seen the Canopus ADVC-100? This handy device will convert (DVD-quality) video (not RF) to/from DV-encoded firewire.
Great stuff...
The slamming shut won't happen until after IBM's counterclaims are resolved.
The end of SCO is near?
I'm not a pessimist about technology, but I'm disappointed in what has passed for technology since, say the 1960s.
...
Technology outside of IT moves unbelievably slowly.
I would say that you are myopic, or perhaps just impatient.
In the 60's, computers were 1000 times larger, 1000 times more expensive, and 10000 times slower. In a series of small (yes, evolutionary) steps, they have made big advances. Is this enough to be revolutionary? Hmmm...
Yes, computers are still organized around old von Neumann architectures, and still use printers and disks. User interfaces have had a revolution since the 1960s (courtesy of Xerox).
But, I think people in business (accounting as a stellar example), publishing, and multimedia have been profoundly affected (in revolutionary ways?) by computers.
I have left out the best example, delaying it until the last. The Bio sciences have extended genetics in incredible strides (yes, made possible by computers and other inventions). Think of the research possibilities opened up by genome mapping, for instance.
If that is not revolutionary, then perhaps I am guilty of misunderstanding the proper term to label something that has dominated such an important field in so short of a time.
Perhaps I am biased, because such advances in biotech have saved my life (I am a cancer survivor, cured by advanced drugs developed by biotech firms - with the help of computers). Had I been ill twenty years earlier, I probably would not have survived. You may disagree, but being alive is revolutionary progress to me!
A better way would be to get the idea published in a trade journal (an ACM or IEEE journal sounds pretty good). In addition to firmly establishing it as prior art, it will also make the idea available to others.
If the idea is really significant, then these journals "should" be willing to work with you to get it published. That's what they're there for, after all.
It was stated in the article that between 1958 and 1984 AT&T had to license all its non-telephonic stuff to whoever asked at fairly reasonable conditions.
While educational institutions received reasonable license terms, the same did not hold for commercial entities. They paid through the nose for a source license - and there was a time when that was all you could get.
The fact that UNIX still flourished, despite the high price and poor support (it was a research product, after all) is a tribute to its intrinsic value.
Sun's situation with Java is really reminiscent of AT&T's situation with Unix and C.
One could make a good argument that the excellent portability of C is because of AT&T retaining tight control of it for so many years. Many people learned the language and there were many applications written for it, so by the time more compilers were written for it, and later, when it was standardized, no one wanted to break anything.
In other words, the existing mass of programs keeps C stable and reasonable. If language changes different enough (or innovative enough) come along, they are put into a new language derived from C, and given a new name (like "C++" or "Java").
Is Java at that point now? Is there a big enough mass of Java code out there to keep the language stable without Sun's help?
Last I checked, you couldn't have files over 4 gb in size on a FAT partition.
Maybe not, but most modern DV tools have options to break files into manageable-sized chunks, usually 1 or 2 Gb.
More than anything else, higher math teaches you how to solve problems.
How to approach complexity step by step and break it down into manageable pieces.
How to deal with abstraction.
How to THINK.
Anyone who is an accomplished programmer will appreciate these skills.
It is by no means the only way to learn this, it just seems to work. If you can master higher math, you can usually pick up programming.
according to their specs sheet (PDF warning), this stuff has a boiling point of 49.2C (120.6F). Processors burn hotter than that, how useful would it still be for cooling purposes if it were a gas?
Phase-change cooling comes to mind. Does anyone know if it would be better/cheaper/safer than freon?
It's not properly weighted on the other side so he has to push down with one hand, up with the other and maintain a horizontal position throughout the shot. And he can't do it so the image is tilted most of the time. He'd have a chance of keeping the horizontal straight if he made a "T" instead of an "L"
Although the "T" idea sounds OK, it might get awkward. Why not just make the handle shorter? Do you really need a one foot handle? A shorter handle would affect the balance a lot less.
Also, I was thinking that the camera mounting is very clumsy (but, of course, it is very inexpensive). There might be a way of dismantling an old (or cheap second-hand) tripod, and using it's base. You would get tilting as a bonus!
was Calculator's Cunning by Karl Menninger.
I believe it's out of print now, but was an excellent text, covering all of the tricks.
If you search bestwebbuys you can see that it is for sale used.
While I agree with most of this posting, I would go further.
Software production, in my experience, is NOT a freely-interchangable commodity., because programmers are not of equal ability.
In other words, software quality is not so much a function of the process used to produce it, as it is a function of the insight of who produced it. I see "software engineering" (and approach it) more as art than as a production problem. For example, while some art is displayed in museums, to be viewed over and over again by all, other art is bought by private parties, and never seen again..
I believe we should study the economics of art to understand how software fits into the marketplace.
The fact is that many would like software to be a commodity. But when you treat programmers as plowhorses, you end up with lousy art. Just like the parent posting suggests, those companies that see the difference will produce gems that will outshine the rest.
Consider this: in the very odd chance SCO wins lawsuits and Linux crumbles there wouldn't be much involved to move Linux web servers over to *BSD as they're likely all running Apache/PHP/*SQL anyhow.
And 10 minutes later, SCO files lawsuits attacking high-profile BSD sites.
Yes, I know AT&T and BSDI went over that path before, and any sane entity would not stick its hand twice (err.. three times?) into a fire.... but who is calling SCO sane?
A major problem (as many have pointed out in similar "Give Us Drivers!!" rants) is the possibility of licensed code in the drivers.
They may not be able to release them, legally, no matter how much they want to.
No, I think a technical ruling would involve phrases such as "copyright infringement".
Much different than stealing.
Why not buy a couple of cheap 200Gb IDE disks? Prices are drifting to close to $1/Gb. You use the CD/DVD images as backups (your data is probably pretty static, from what you say).
At work, we set up a server devoted to this. We load up ISO images, mount them with the loopback device, and export them via NFS.
Much better than changers. We used several of them before we hit upon this scheme.
I have read a lot comparing Free Software to socialism (and even communism). In particular, how Free Software is antithetical to capitalism.
These posts overlook one major detail:
One definition of capitalism concerns the accumulation of capital, which, in turn, has, as one definition, "an asset or advantage".
Hmmmm.... These assets do not necesssarily mean money.
In particular, a lot of free software is written and/or supported for a very powerful asset - respect of one's peers. Yes, in some circumstances this can be converted into more conventional money. If you are lucky.
Don't overlook other forms of compensation! It is still capitalism at work!
This really reminds me of my father's situation.
A retired (geeky) college professor, he relied totally on my very-social mother to schedule all of his social life. When she died, he was at a loss.
Although he now has plenty of time for his online life, it is not enough. He's climbing the walls with cabin fever. We have tried to get him out to do something - volunteer tutoring at the local college, joining a local club - ANYTHING!!! But he says he's too old to change...
I believe that a lot of us will share this fate unless we realize the importance of getting out there and doing something with people. Now. Before we have to.
hungryfrog is lucky to get his wakeup call now, rather than later.
I have too many friends (mostly online, but also a few in the flesh) whose ambition is, when they retire, to just spend all day online.
If they got their wish, most of these people would eventually realize how much humans really are social animals, and would grow to crave interaction.
Sigh.... I guess geeks will be geeks...
What makes for a real anti-competitive climate are closed file formats. Once locked in to closed file formats, you at the mercy (or lack thereof) of your supplier.
Closed source that conforms to open file format standards (it does exist) helps to preserve real choice almost as much as true Open Source.
A strategy that would eliminate the "anti-competition" argument would be to restrict governments to open file formats.
Microsoft has demonstrated time and time again that it will not play nicely with open formats, because their entire marketing strategy is to remove choice. Their actions speak louder than their words. But the way to level the playing field is to enforce compatability with standards.
I cannot leave this alone without citing a significant counter-example where a simplification of a complicated system was a tremendous success.
Unix as a less complex replacement for Multics.
In addition to needing accurate timestamps for logging, routers are very convenient NTP servers.
Rather than having your NTP packets pass through the router, have them stop AT the router, and have the router poll for accurate time. This is FAR less overhead for a large subnet (think hundreds of hosts).
Of course, the router SHOULD be responsibly configured to poll a willing timesource.